Add to that the fact that his second marriage was seen as a betrayal of the worshipped Queen Astrid who died a few years before and he was the first Belgian Royal to marry a commoner, the manner the marriage took place and the fact that the king had already gone against the government's wishes by not going into exile but staying in Belgium and you have the mix that in the end cost Leopold III his throne.
The large popular uprising after the vote to keep him was what made him abdicate. He did not loose the throne because he married Lilian, but that marriage did not help him either politically.
It seems it did help him get over a depression. It was his mother Queen Elisabeth who sent the good-looking and athletic Lilian Baels to her son in the hope she could cheer him up. I don't think she could have foreseen Lilian getting pregnant and Leopold doing the right thing by marrying her.
--Previous Message--
: Yes but didn't the government have a real
: problem with this marriage as they had not
: been notified prior to the wedding (which
: would have been difficult as Leopold was in
: Belgium and the government was in London)?
:
: I always thought that the
: kind-of-clandestine way in which this
: marriage came about was one of the reasons
: why the government didn't fully support
: Leopold III which in the end lead to his
: abdication.
:
: --Previous Message--
: The example of Leopold III shows that a
: monarch does not need consent from the
: government or parliament to marry and remain
: on the throne.
:
: It is however the government who since are
: the ones who can offer the new spouse
: her/his own title.
: The difference is clear between HRH princess
: Claire of Belgium and HRH princess Alexandre
: of Belgium. The first was given her own
: title upon her wedding the second wasn't.
:
: --Previous Message--
: According to the Belgium Constitution a
: member
: of the royal family can loose his (or her)
: rights by marrying without consent of the
: King (art. 85).
:
: So I would say no.
:
: There is one 'however': I don't know how
: 'the King' should be read in the Belgium
: Constitution. In the Dutch Constitution the
: term 'The King' should in some cases be
: translated in 'the government'. If the same
: applies in Belgium it would mean that the
: government had to approve of the marriage
: and they will probably only give that
: consent after approval of the parliament.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Did King Baudouin have to seek the
: Parliament's consent before marrying Fabiola
: de Mora y Aragon?
:
:
:
:
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